Welcome to the Piano World Piano ForumsOver 2.5 million posts about pianos, digital pianos, and all types of keyboard instruments
Join the World's Largest Community of Piano Lovers
(it's free)
It's Fun to Play the Piano ... Please Pass It On!

ElleC - what a wonderful new piano! I heard it in your PianoBar postings -it sounds as good as it looks!

Sand Tiger - I recently discovered 2 works by Pachelbel in my collections - Like you, I had only ever heard his Canon! The other pieces are delightful and I've done a bit of work on one called "Fugetta".

Dynamobt: Welcome! Chopin eh? Good for you - (we pretty much all love Chopin to bit here, even though a lot of us (ok, me...sigh) can't really play much of his stuff yet. It seems that your experience gives support to the "the more you play in public, the less stressful it is" theory.

Wisebuff - I agree - it is just great to step out of the PW boundaries and connect on different subjects. I have a few PW friends that I've connected with in emails ...but I haven't met any face to face yet. Something to aim for!

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

WiseBuff - just popped in saw your post. Someone earlier mentioned (sorry cannot look back pages I'm looking at it on my phone at the airport) that we look like sisters (lol). It was funny but I do think everyone on the forum share the piano genes. We may all have been descended from music loving primates. Anyway, I'm on my way to New York for a meeting. Shucks. I will try to sneak into my company's building to practice tonite. They have pretty bad (out of tune) Yamaha grand on the event / trainging floor. The piano does not have a music stand, so I have to test my memory. There is a sign on top of the piano "Don't place anything heavy". So I figure it's probably ok to play after hours. I will go see Jinathan Biss at the Carnegie Hall to cheer myself up. Happy piano week to everyone.

ElleC - Johann is gorgeous! I heard your recording in the piano bar and he sounds great!

Dynamobt - Nocturne 32 2 is gorgeous! How nice to share it with nursing home residents! I am sure they loved it!

FarmGirl "Don't play anything heavy"? Do they think you will break the piano? At least the sign doesn't say "do not play".

Well, I had to think about what to report as an AOTW this week. I posted a video in the piano bar of me playing my new piano, so I will count that as an achievement. I really like the Q3HD Zoom. It does a good job.

My major pieces are progressing, inch by inch. One advantage of recording regularly is I can at least hear improvement week to week!

I have a very different kind of AOTW this time. On Saturday night, for the first time, I tuned an entire piano in one sitting! It was an early 1980s Yamaha U1 that hadn't been tuned probably since the 1930s A4 was halfway to G#4! It took me over three hours, but when I was done it sounded very nice. I'm aware that I'm no professional, but I've been learning how to do it, and it was pretty neat to get fast enough to do it in one shot. My first full tuning took a couple sessions on different days...

_________________________
Playing since age 21 (September 2010) and loving it more every day."You can play better than BachMach2." - Mark_CCurrently Butchering:Chopin Ballade no 1 in G minor Op.23My Piano Diary: http://www.youtube.com/sirsardonic♪ > $

The first is that I finally stopped procrastinating on the second movement of the Moonlight Sonata, and I can do both hands separate from start to finish pretty well already. Now working on hands together, which is proving somewhat tricky (probably because I'm not playing slowly enough ...).

The other is that I fulfilled a promise I made in an earlier post on this thread. I transcribed the YouTube video Ragdoll linked to into sheet music. It was fun!

Originally Posted By: ElleC

It's my very first Sonatina and I must say, it's been a frustrating couple of weeks learning it. My brain definitely works faster than my fingers and it was hard to keep up with the speed that this piece requires.

I think it's very impressive that you were able to learn this to the level that you demonstrated in the Piano Bar after only three months playing the piano, and in just a couple of weeks. So, be very proud of yourself. This is quite an achievement, indeed! Also: w00t for your new piano. Others (including yours truly) have used this thread liberally to brag about new pianos in the past. I don't see why you shouldn't .

Originally Posted By: SwissMS

So, my AOTW is focussed, disciplined practice. It is paying off!

Respect, for two reasons. One, you managed to actually force yourself to play slowly and without errors, which is, as you say, indeed easier said than done. And two, you can play along to a metronome. It gives me the creeps, but I *know* I will have to learn to do it at some point.

Originally Posted By: PaperClip

My aotw is that I have a new job starting after the summer as a cook in a restaurant. It is located between the concert hall and a shop selling sheet music. In the middle of the restaurant, there is a grand piano.

Sounds awesome. I have a sister currently living in Amsterdam. If you tell me where the new job is, maybe I can get her to invite me for a bite to eat at your workplace. And if we're lucky, who knows, we might even be able to sneak in some playing time on the grand .

Originally Posted By: FarmGirl

There were a few spots that need some work but I was able to pull it through for the most part. This really surprised me.

Your teacher seems to know you better than you know yourself. Or perhaps she just knows that you are prone to chronically underestimating yourself, and understands when to push in order to help you overcome this. Which, to me, is one of the hallmarks of a good teacher. So kudos to your teacher for being that good, and kudos to you for having found her .

Originally Posted By: WiseBuff

My Achievement is playing it at 72 with the 7/8 time and the triplets. It is so cool. Maybe by piano recital time in May it'll rhapsody even faster.

If you're half as excited about playing this piece as your post makes it seem, then I have no doubt that you'll be rhapsodying circles around everyone else by recital time . I look forward to it already!

Originally Posted By: torquenale

... only having practiced more than usual ...

I disagree that there's anything 'only' about that. In writer's circles, they say that good writing comes from 1% inspiration, and 99% transpiration. I strongly believe that something similar is true for playing the piano: beautiful performances come from 1% talent, and 99% perseverance. So every extra minute of focused practice you can squeeze in now will pay off doubly down the road. Way to go!

Originally Posted By: Augustina

An A- is way better then I thought I was going to get.:)

An A- is great! Congratulations!

Originally Posted By: EdwardianPiano

I'm keeping on with the Bach minuet. Got bar one quite nicely done and working on bar two.

Working on it ... one bar at a time. Now that, that's perseverance. My hat goes off to you.

Originally Posted By: LarryShone

I have no sheet for it so just played it from memory and came up with a left hand accompaniment for it.

That, sir, is not trivial at all. That's huge! It may have been basic, but it's a great start. Now continue on down the path your on! You'll be composing on the fly before you know it ;-).

Originally Posted By: WiseBuff

My scales and my broken chords are steadily improving and just may be ready for the exam on June 1. Hope hope.

I'm helping you hope!

Originally Posted By: casinitaly

My ATOW was to make my recording of Schumann's Melody and submit it to the Piano Bar. I'm really pleased that I had two pieces ready to go so close together. This certainly tells me that I'm making progress with the learning curve!!

And it was lovely. It must indeed be great to feel your learning's speeding up.

Originally Posted By: Allard

Or you can pick the nicest sounding Alfred tune and submit that. Participating is just as valuable when you're just starting out as when you're performing concertos.

+1.

It's called the Adult Beginners Forum Recital, remember? Most of the participants in it are so advanced that they scare away the real beginners. Don't let it happen to you. Instead, be one of those who encourage others to come out of the woodwork!

Originally Posted By: aTallGuyNH

... but you continue to attack life with the humor and verve that comes across so clearly ... your presence is so much larger than that number would suggest!

Two great compliments in a row (especially the first one). Thank you. I will cherish your kind words for a long time to come. I'm also genuinely happy for you that you managed to jump over the hurdle that was keeping you from learning song #2. And that life has calmed down enough that you were able to come back to us (not to mention, back to playing the piano more frequently!)

Originally Posted By: Ragdoll

I have not had a very good week due to some hideous family issues and so haven't had much of an AOTW.

My guess is, you do have an AOTW -- probably several of them. They're just not piano related. My advice: when life throws you lemons, cut yourself some slack. And if you have something you want to talk about that doesn't have to do with piano, well ... I've found this place to be quite hospitable to that . Or, there's always PM, which I know you've figured out how to use now. Don't hesitate.

Originally Posted By: Sand Tiger

I go back to musical exploration mode in the hopes of finding that next original composition.

Yep. It is. And once you can do it in one piece, you'll be able to do it in others too. So keep at it. We'll gladly listen to your recording whenever you're ready to make one (well, I will, anyway ... I shouldn't speak for other people ;)).

Originally Posted By: EdwardianPiano

She encouraged me to keep on with the lessons.

Parental approval of your choices in life ... what more do you want? . Of course you should keep on with the lessons. But you knew that already. Right?

Originally Posted By: dynamobt

It's kind of mind over matter to stay calm even when a mistake is made.

Mind over matter, huh? Sounds like you've pretty much got it down pat. And with a Chopin piece, no less. Color me impressed.

Originally Posted By: Sam Rose

On Saturday night, for the first time, I tuned an entire piano in one sitting!

Are you for real? I mean, not only are you one of the best pianists around here, but you can tune your own piano in three hours? I'll repeat what I said above, but this time with a little more vehemence: Color me very impressed. Any pointers on how to get there for us mere mortals?

Appreciate the welcome and kind words about my recital. I watched some member videos today. Some talented people on this forum! I think I will learn alot from participating here. It's hard to find adults in similar pursuits around here. There are other adults at the music academy I go to. But, none of them seem willing to perform. It just seems to me to be such a waste to practice as long and hard as we do for only entertaining myself and my husband. I really want to share my music. I just need more work on keeping my nerves in check. Dare I say, I actually enjoyed myself last Sunday. So, clearly playing in public is helping with playing in public!!!

It's called the Adult Beginners Forum Recital, remember? Most of the participants in it are so advanced that they scare away the real beginners. Don't let it happen to you. Instead, be one of those who encourage others to come out of the woodwork!

I'm also genuinely happy for you that you managed to jump over the hurdle that was keeping you from learning song #2. And that life has calmed down enough that you were able to come back to us (not to mention, back to playing the piano more frequently!)

SwissMs, I have been doing the regular recordings now too - as bench marks to see how I'm doing --and also as a "reality check". I can really sit and listen and hear where the weak spots are.

Sam - that's pretty impressive! I've done a bit of tweaking on my piano (usually a day or two before the tuning is coming as I'm afraid of messing it up! ) but I've never tried doing the whole keyboard, just the middle couple of octaves. wow...

Saranoya - Glad to hear you're off the fence on your Mendelsohnn and starting to make progress! and transcribing from a video? Very nifty!

Dynambot - you seem to be taking to playing in public like a duck to water!

TallGuy...not speaking to me now eh? hmmm.

Last night I played my Heller piece all the way through at a decent, though slower than optimal, speed - my hubby really liked it! It was the first time he had heard it. I also started on Schumann's "First Loss" and that's coming along nicely. Lesson today, and I hope I can do as well in the lesson as I have been doing at home!

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

On Saturday night, for the first time, I tuned an entire piano in one sitting!

Are you for real? I mean, not only are you one of the best pianists around here, but you can tune your own piano in three hours? I'll repeat what I said above, but this time with a little more vehemence: Color me very impressed. Any pointers on how to get there for us mere mortals?

Aww come on! You flatter me...I use a program on my phone to help me out, so it's not like I do it all by ear. But even still, tuning is very hard. My tuner told me it takes 1000 tunings to really become any good at it, and I believe that.

Edited by Sam Rose (04/09/1303:21 AM)

_________________________
Playing since age 21 (September 2010) and loving it more every day."You can play better than BachMach2." - Mark_CCurrently Butchering:Chopin Ballade no 1 in G minor Op.23My Piano Diary: http://www.youtube.com/sirsardonic♪ > $

Week One : Can play 5 times correctly on first sitting;A major scale 4 octaves hands separately, 2 octaves similar and contrary motion.A major broken chord , hands together, standard and compound pattern.(ABRSM)A major arpeggio, hands together (and not looking at keys , yay! lol) Root, I and II inversions.

Week Four: as above with A, D, E and B.I am going to visit my parents at the end of this week and will have no access to a piano for a couple of weeks . So I am not going to learn anything new until the week after I return ( first week will be practice). I am content that my brain knows what my fingers are doing, what the notes look like on the stave, and where my fingers are on the keyboard, so brain is in control and aware of what is happening , rather than pure muscle memory taking over. So I am happy to stay where I am until after holiday , rather than rush into next scale group. I am pleased with my tortoise progress, lol.

Well done to everyone for achievements big and small.

_________________________
It will be happened; it shall be going to be happening; it will be was an event that could will have been taken place in the future. Simple as that.

The other is that I fulfilled a promise I made in an earlier post on this thread. I transcribed the YouTube video Ragdoll linked to into sheet music. It was fun!

And I cannot thank you enough Sara. I'll send you a PM later but I am awe struck that you are able to do this. It is light years ahead of me to do even simple transcription from "hearing" something. Bravo girl!

W I will try to sneak into my company's building to practice tonite. They have pretty bad (out of tune) Yamaha grand on the event / trainging floor. The piano does not have a music stand, so I have to test my memory. There is a sign on top of the piano "Don't place anything heavy". So I figure it's probably ok to play after hours.

Last summer I went three or four times where my husband works, in the company canteen there was a wonderful (and in tune) Bechstein grand and I played it in late afternoon when the place was almost desert. I enjoyed it very very much! Unfortunately it has been replaced with a Yamaha grand that, according to my husband's opinion, is not at the same level (but still a lot better than our upright, I suppose). In any case, I hope to try it next August.

My AOTW is a big one: today I had lesson, and I formally accepted to play in the recital a couple of solo pieces in addition to the duets with my children.I consider it a strong motivation for really polishing the pieces, and to start learning to play in front of people - the last being one of my goals for 2013.As I already said, I will be the only adult...Now I feel very brave, I hope I will not have a nervous breakdown before 1st June...

And congratulations to everybody for your achievements, this is really a great place to share them!

Dulcetta! We haven't seen you for a while ! Nice to hear you are pleased with your "slow but steady" pace.... Remember, the tortoise won the race

Torquenale - That's really something that there is a piano in the canteen (ma ....nella mensa?)--I'm surprised though, that's pretty unusual, even for Italy! Now I wonder where your husband works! Congratulations on your decision to play in the recital. I think you are very brave. My teacher hasn't mentioned the one at the school yet and I have NO problem with that! I would like to play in a recital, but I don't want to play with only little kids. At least you'll be playing with your sons!

I had a fabulous lesson today! I played both pages of my Heller and then the first half of my Schumann (the new one, First Loss, ) for my teacher and managed to play quite well! woohoo! He showed me some techniques for hand positions for some of the awkward fingerings and coached me a bit of some timing I had not got quite right.... It was great. I was so pleased that I didn't have to say "oh, I played it better at home!" lol.

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

It was great. I was so pleased that I didn't have to say "oh, I played it better at home!"

Ah, C, I've often dreamed of that alternate universe.... you know, the one where you sit down to practice and say to yourself "dang, I played this so much better yesterday at my lesson." Congrats on the progress.

My playing at today's lesson didn't go quite so well. But out of pity my teacher finally gave me a pass on the pesky Beethoven Minuet, which I'm sure she is tired of hearing me butcher.... lets just say fast,really clean, truly legato thirds are still an aspirational skill for me.

Oh well, I'm glad to be done with it for a while. And that leaves me more time for the Chopin, which is my recital piece and is nowhere even close to being played yet.

Also got a new assignment of a little one page Scarlatti Sonata in D minor, so we're back on the Baroque bandwagon again.

Oh, and I am still doing nightly lead sheet work...picking a different song every day and then improvising chords and melody at the same time in the right hand...a real pinky workout.

Howdy! After more than a couple of mixed drinks (called Good Husband) i sneaked back up to the 26 floor of my company Bldg. there were a couple of cleaning ladies on the floor. I realized it was very hard to recall Bach when you are not sober. Also this Yanaha grand is so out of tune. There is no music stand so I really cannot read it unfortunately. I played Brahms too. It turned out to be pretty cool with drinks. Anyway I kind of sort of practiced.

Jim - I think your work on the lead sheets must be alot of fun. I still haven't made any progress on improvising with the left hand other than playing block chords. Bor-ing ho hum... ah well, it is on my list of aspirations!I tried to google your Chopin work and what I came up with were pieces that seemed to be 22-24 minutes long....? Somehow that doesn't seem right - any chance of you posting a link to the right piece?

FarmGirl - playing after a few drinks? ha! I don't even play if I feel a wee bit tired. With alcohol I'd be a total mess. It does sound like you had fun though!

rmaple: I attribute the success in the lesson to two things. One was that I really did a lot of "small measure focus" practice on my pieces - so that I had gone over and over and over and over the same bits and new them very well. The other was that when I sat down to play for the teacher, I hummed (in my head) the first few bars -realized NO! That's too fast!!!! - slowed down my humming and THEN, in sync with the slower pace, started up. I didn't play 100% error free -but very close!

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

I like what alcohol does to expressiveness Of course, that's offset by lower accuracy and memory lapse, leading to very interesting interpretations. (But don't drink too much.)

I'm still making lots of mistakes during lessons, though occasionally I get a random flawless section and my teacher compliments on that. We're working on Chopin's Waltz in A Minor (the posthumous one). It's mighty hard. The first two weeks I made a mess of the left hand chords - there are huge leaps inside the chords, severely distracting from what's happening in the right hand. In time, it keeps getting better. The other day, mister teach noted how well the grace notes sounded in section B. Yay progress.

This week's lesson, I showed him the new Ludovico Einaudi and David Lanz books I'd ordered. Needless to say, Chopin didn't get anything to say that evening. I played Orbits from In a Time Lapse. A couple mistakes, but he noted how I'm actually reading the music while playing. I don't think he likes how quickly I memorize everything and then stop reading.

Afterward I paged to Experience, noting how hard it looks and it's probably the hardest song in the book. And then he made me play it. Eep! Einaudi must have big hands or something; it has chords spanning a tenth. The broken chords are doable, I guess, but I can't do the block chords. The problem is, the song sounds lovely! It's so hard not to rush ahead of yourself and go attempt all this pretty music.

Allard: I did some work on that Waltz, and I'm getting back to it now after a really long pause.What I found worked for me was to get the right hand down pat and be really smooth with it - not having to look at either my hand or the music, and then giving myself a chance to look at the left hand to be sure it could land in the right position.

I found the absolute hardest part for me was and still is!!! in the first repeat where you have the big leaps in the left hand and the arpeggio of triplet plus quintlet?? (3 and 5) running all the way up to the high end of the keyboard!

_________________________ ABF Recitals 18-44Another thing you learn along the way is that the music will still be there when you are ready for it. There's no reason to rush. JimF

Definitely! Still have a way to go with that part. I -sometimes- get the arpeggio correct, but will probably mess up the left hand part. I often end up missing with my thumb under. Got to practise slowly, every day. But I feel like I'm getting somewhere with the piece.

Kudos to Allard AND rmaple for a playing well at lessons (even if only a few flawless sections). There's just something unnerving about playing for the teacher. That Chopin waltz is deceptively difficult I think. It LOOKS so straight forward but....CAS, I'm sure yours will come together this round.

FarmGirl I can imagine you with a little mixed drink and the out of tune piano...no doubt the piano was honored to be played.

I wish this software would let me go back to previous pages so I can remember what the rest of you have contributed and achieved. CAS, how do you manage to note on everyone?

I'm making slow but steady progress on prep for the exam. The Mendelssohn will be recognizable (maybe better than that). Problem is I must be too tense since I'm getting aching in my wrists.

My guess is, you do have an AOTW -- probably several of them. They're just not piano related. My advice: when life throws you lemons, cut yourself some slack. And if you have something you want to talk about that doesn't have to do with piano, well ... I've found this place to be quite hospitable to that wink. Or, there's always PM, which I know you've figured out how to use now. Don't hesitate.

I have cut myself way too much slack lately Sara. While I appreciate the offer of support for this current trial, I couldn't possibly share it. It's far too personal and multi- layered besides. Each part is very trying but the aggregate of it all has overwhelmed me for awhile. Just trying to cope and not lose my piano magic which has suffered.

I have not had a lesson in weeks but have taken a hiatus from it except at home. Doom & Gloom CUT!!!

I found a great book of Ragtime tunes yesterday at the library. (I may buy it) I've abandoned Glad Cat rag for something new, haven't decided yet what to pick from this book as there are many to choose from here. I've played a bit with Joplin's "The Cascades" and Joseph Lamb's "Ragtime Nightingale". Both of which are more challenging than Glad Cat (a lesson piece) I tried to lengthen and make more interesting. It just turned out to be longer and basically a repeat and BORING after I learned it. The only benefit I got was a real work out of my RH 4th and 5th fingers. I'm excited to explore this new collection of Ragtime music.

I accompanied the church's treble choir again this weekend. Definitely my most accomplished performance yet ... but also the simplest. Repetition that minimalists would be proud of.

The Chopin Nocturne is coming along very nicely, extremely promising for the May ABF recital for those persons that person who are is interested! There is still one part that needs some technical work but mostly it's polish - and to a much higher degree than other pieces too.

Bach? Well, he's a hard task master isn't he? Just needs a lot more work. Then some more and then some more. The memorization isn't coming very well either, even after analyzing and understanding the piece. Polyphony is just tougher to memorize I think. At least for me.

Excited a found a good new teacher in person. First...The skype lessons really aren't great. There is a lag between the video and audio. For me it was very distracting seeing him struggle to see all of what was going on. It was obviously irritating to him. He admitted skype can't go very far in these lessons. He told me in person is really the best.

So I checked around again. I got lucky. Found a retired band director who is giving lessons. She had one spot I could fit into. So I took it. Geesh...this lady teaches everything...strings, all band instruments, and piano. She says piano is the basis of everything. Can easily play any instrument once you learn piano, right. She doesn't even start out by teaching piano. She teaches theory to start. That's right up my alley. That's the most important part of really learning piano well. Even then. We'll be finishing up my books I have. Then decide. I like that she has a course that contains four books to work out of all at once. Like, one is a workbook. I need to give feedback to learn. The way I've always learned and verified that I got it right.So I'm looking forward to it.

I also have been exposed to too much of the bad side of society here. Business people are awful. Hoping this will give me a chance to see a better part of SD society. Lessons are at the one big music store in town.

Torquenale - That's really something that there is a piano in the canteen (ma ....nella mensa?)--I'm surprised though, that's pretty unusual, even for Italy! Now I wonder where your husband works! Congratulations on your decision to play in the recital. I think you are very brave. My teacher hasn't mentioned the one at the school yet and I have NO problem with that! I would like to play in a recital, but I don't want to play with only little kids. At least you'll be playing with your sons!

Maybe it was misleading not mentioning that my my husband does'n work in Italy but in The Netherlands. The piano is in the "mensa", but they call it restaurant, and it is quite big. Occasionally recitals during lunchtime are organized, and the musicians are both amateurs working there and some professionals, and so the piano is kept in tune.

Congratulations for you lesson; and regarding my recital, I hope I will not ruin it for my children, messing up our duets...